New To Stapleton and Need the Lay of the Land?

Welcome! I’m glad you’re interested in checking out the Stapleton neighborhood. My family and I live here and obviously I think it’s a neighborhood worth exploring. I think you’ll find the same to be true. This page is for the people who are new to the Stapleton area and want to get a quick overview of all the area has to offer. I hope this information is helpful and if you still have questions that I didn’t cover here please give me a call at (720) 299-1730 or shoot me an email at joe@focus-realtors.com. I’m a real estate broker in the area so I’m happy to help people buying or selling in Stapleton but I’m also happy to just answer questions about the area.

The People: I put this first on the list because above all else the people that live in a community are going to make it what it is…everything else is secondary. In my experience Stapleton is full of active, entrepreneurial, giving, caring and family-oriented people. I’ve seen countless examples of people caring for their neighbors and going out of their way to help the less fortunate…which impressed me. There are families without kids (all are welcome!) but most households have children. On our block 90% of the homes have kids, which is pretty representative of the area as a whole. This makes for a great place to raise kids. We love when our neighbor kids ring the door bell and ask “Can Emme (our 6 year old) come out and play? That’s the kind of neighborhood we were looking for when we chose Stapleton.

What is Stapleton?: Stapleton is a new urbanist master-planned community built on the former site of the Stapleton International Airport. The airport, which was replaced by DIA, closed and in the mid 90’s a plan was devised to redevelop the abandoned airport. Forest City Enterprises is now redeveloping the community and has been doing so for over 10 years. It’s the largest infill project in the country! Stapleton has been a big success, remaining one of the top selling communities in Colorado and typically in the top 10-15 selling communities nationwide! That says a lot about the area considering the turbulence in real estate markets in the past decade. Upon completion, it’s anticipated Stapleton will be home to 30,000 people and 12,000 residences. Want a little more info, click here.

The Location: Stapleton is on the East side of Denver near the intersection of I-70 and Quebec St. The location is great for those who want to be near downtown, Cherry Creek, the Fitzsimons medical campus or the airport. Stapleton’s site claims you can be downtown in 10 minutes but realistically it’s 15-20 minutes and a few more minutes to park once you get there. I get plenty of speeding tickets and I can’t get there in 10 minutes! DIA is 20 minutes away. The RTD A Line opened in 2016 and provides easy access to dowtown and the airport. (From Central Park Station it takes 12 minutes to get to Union Station downtown and 23 minutes to get to Denver International Airport) The first 10 years of building in Stapleton occurred South of I-70 but that is now almost nearly built out and the builders have been building north of I-70 for the past few years now.

The Parks: One of the first things you’ll notice in Stapleton as you drive through is the parks…they’re everywhere! Forest City, the master developer, did a great job of keeping a tremendous amount of open space in the plan, which is in sync with the new-urbanist planning movement. First of all, Stapleton is home to Central Park, an 80 acre park that is the third largest in all of Denver. In addition, spread throughout Stapleton are tons of pocket parks, greenways and trails that connect the whole area. So how did they create all these parks and open space and still make a profitable development? The short answer is they took the space for the parks from the homeowners’ backyards. I say that in a joking way but you’ll notice the backyards in Stapleton are small considered to some other areas. This was intentional and it was done based on a tenet of new urbanism, that people shouldn’t be in their back yards secluded with just their family, they should be out in the parks being part of the larger community! This concept of small lots and more parks isn’t for everyone but it appeals to those looking to be an active part of a community. In addition to regular parks Stapleton has 2 dog parks (one on each side of I-70, a climbing wall, the Westerly Creek Greenway, the Bluff Lake Nature Center, the Sand Creek Greenway, access to the Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and much more. For additional info on all these parks check click here.

The Homes: There is a mix of housing in Stapleton including for rent apartments as well as for sale condos, single family attached homes and single family detached homes. Home prices are in the mid $100’s to the $1m + range but I’d say if you drive around most of what you’ll see are homes in the $400k – $550k range. Typically the homes are 1,600 – 3,000 square feet and most are two or three stories with basements (finished and unfinished). There are some ranch sytle (one story) homes but that style is not found as frequently. Homes almost always have a front porch and alley-loaded garages (there are a few exceptions of homes with front loaded garages but they are set back and rare). Again, the emphasis is on community (hang out on your front porch and chat) rather than emphasizing garages and the automobile. The porches and lack of ugly dominant garage doors (just my opinion!) are two of my favorite traits of the area.

There are nine active builders in the area offering new homes including Lennar (just getting started), KB Home, Wonderland Homes, Boulder Creek Builders, Standard Pacific Homes, New Town Builders, Parkwood Homes, David Weekly Homes and Infinity Homes. The builders all have model homes showcasing their some of their latest floorplans. I’ve developed relationships with the sales staffs at each builder and if you want the latest scoop on what each builder has to offer currently click here. For more info on new builds, resale homes or buyer/seller resources check out the Stapleton Real Estate tab on the main menu.

The Schools: Stapleton is home to quite a few schools and more to come in the near future as the neighborhood is built out. Here is a brief outline of the schools and if you want more info including contact information and websites for each school you can click here.

Daycare/Pre-School:

Knowledge Beginnings: Early education/daycare provider serving infants through kindergarden age kids. Located in the East Bridge neighborhood of Stapleton. website

Primrose School: Private school serving pre-school through 12 year old students. Balance between teacher led and student directed learning. Located in the E 29th Avenue neighborhood of Stapleton. website

Montessori of Denver: Private pre-school and elementary. One of four Montessori schools in the Denver area providing student directed learning programs. Located in the South End neighborhood of Stapleton. website

The Goddard School: Early childhood/daycare school. Coming soon to the Northfield area in Conservatory Green. website

Elementary Schools:

Swiggert Elementary School: Swiggert is a very well run elementary school that has had a lot of success in it’s short history. It’s an “IB” school located in the Central Park West neighborhood of Stapleton. It shares the facility with the Denver Discovery School, a local middle school. website

William “Bill” Roberts School:Denver Public School serving kids pre-school age through 8th grade. No transition between elementary and middle school so siblings stay together longer (which may be good or bad depending on the siblings). Our oldest daughter goes here and we’ve had a great experience! website

Isabella Bird Community School: One of Stapleton’s latest schools, “Izzy B”, is off to a great start. They serve K-8 grades and the feedback on the new school has been overwhelmingly positive. I think a lot of this is due to their experienced and thoughtful leadership. website

Primrose School:Private school serving pre-school through 12 year old students. Balance between teacher led and student directed learning. Located in the E 29th Avenue neighborhood of Stapleton. website

Montessori of Denver: Private pre-school and elementary. One of four Montessori schools in the Denver area providing student directed learning programs. Located in the South End neighborhood of Stapleton. website

High Tech Elementary: High Tech is another of Stapleton’ latest elementary schools. This is the first elementary school North of I-70 in Stapleton so it is very likely going to serve a lot of families who have built homes in that area. Despite the name, it’s not all about technology and worth exploring for your child. website

William “Bill” Roberts School:Denver Public School serving kids pre-school age through 8th grade. No transition between elementary and middle school so siblings stay together longer (which may be good or bad depending on the siblings). website

Mcauliffe International School: Even though this option is technically not in Stapleton, it used to be, so I’m including it here. It is now located in Park Hill. It’s been a very successful and sought after middle school. website

The Pools: Stapleton has 7 pools including 6 outdoor pools and one in indoors at the Central Park Recreation Center which is really more like an amusement park than a pool. Walking to these outdoor pools in the summer for get togethers or a dip with the kids is one of the best parts about living in Stapleton in the summer. Each pool is unique and fun in different ways. All outdoor pools are covered by your HOA payment ($40 per month is master HOA fee) and the indoor pool is part of the Denver Rec system so there are separate membership costs for that facility.

The Rec Center: Stapleton is home to Central Park Recreation Center built in 2011. It’s amazing. You can do your cardio while enjoying in a breath-taking of the mountain range. Basketball courts, pools, weight room, workout classes, community activity rooms and more. Daycare is available which makes it functional for the parents in the area. (Did I mention there are a few families in Stapleton?) Being a member at the Recreation Center is an additional fee and it’s not included in owner’s typical $40/mth HOA fees. To check out current pricing give the rec center a call at (720) 865-0750.

The Shopping: Stapleton has several commercial areas featuring plenty of restaurants, retail shops and the basics such as groceries and big box stores. The most unique and walkable commercial area is the 29th Avenue Town Center. This area features restaurants, spas, a wine shop, coffee shops, ice cream shops, and more (the important stuff) that are all accessible from the homes in the western end of Stapleton. A second somewhat similar town center should be coming to the East side of Stapleton soon!

Less walkable and more suburban feeling commercial areas include Quebec Square and Northfield Stapleton. (Think Wal-Mart, IHOP, Home Depot, etc) This is where the developer seemed to stray a bit from the New Urbanist movement and fell back into suburban norms (Sorry Forest City – just my opinion!). Even though they fall short in this area we still have more shopping amenities than most areas in Denver which is very handy. A new project, called Stanley Marketplace, should bring a wealth of “mom and pop” commercial to the Southern border of Stapleton soon. (Stanley info)